T-Mobile’s riders are still safe atop the General Classification in the 2006 Tour de France after today’s 181 km stage from St-Meen-le-Grand to Lorient on the Brittany coast. The stage was won by Frenchman Sylvain Calzati who broke away from the peloton along with five other riders after 47 km in the race. Most of the other riders (including CSC’s Dave Zabriskie) were unable to maintain the pace, but Calzati refused to get reeled-in by the main pack and went ahead to solo victory, more than 2 minutes ahead of the sprinters.

Robbie McEwen was the fourth place finisher in today’s race, but it was enough for him to maintain hold on the green jersey. As for the race for yellow jersey, the GC remains essentially unchanged.

At the end of today’s stage, here are the standings in the general classification:

1. Sergei Honchar (UKR) T-Mobile
2. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak at 1’00″
3. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile at 1’08″
4. Patrik Sinkewitz (GER) T-Mobile at 1’45″
5. Marcus Fothen (GER) Gerosteiner at 1’50″
6. Andreas Kloden (GER) T-Mobile at 1’50″
7. Vladimir Karpets (RUS) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears at 1’52″
8. Cadel Evans (AUS) Davitamon-Lotto at 1’52″
9. Dave Zabriskie (USA) CSC at 1’53”
10. Denix Menchov (RUS) Rabobank at 2’00”